C]  I      ' 


Issued  January    1(5,    1911. 

^-Department  of  Agriculture, 

•XPpiMENT  STATIONS— Circular  107. 
C.  True,  Director. 


THE  CARD  INDEX  OF  EXPERIMENT  STATION  LITERATURE. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  circular  to  outline  briefly  the  general  plan 
of  the  subject  index  of  experiment  station  literature  regularly  issued 
in  card  form  by  this  Office,  and  to  state  the  conditions  governing  the 
distribution  and  sale  of  the  index. 

The  index  at  the  present  time  covers  only  the  publications  of  the 
agricultural  experiment  stations  in  the  United  States,  Alaska, Hawaii, 
and  Porto  Rico.  Of  these  publications  the  index  includes  all  regular, 
special,  technical,  and  research  bulletins  and  the  reports,  but  not  such 
publications  as  circulars  and  press  bulletins,  except  as  these  are  re- 
printed in  the  other  publications  mentioned.  Publications  of  this 
Department  and  of  state  boards  or  departments  of  agriculture  are 
therefore  not  included.  The  index  begins  with  the  publication  of 
the  stations  for  the  year  1888,  and  is  kept  as  nearly  up  to  date  as  is 
practicable. 

The  index  comprises  thirteen  primary  divisions,  as  follows:  (1) 
General  sciences,  (2)  air  and  water,  (3)  soils,  (4)  fertilizers,  (5) 
plants,  (6)  foods,  (7)  animals,  (8)  entomology,  (9)  dairying,  (10) 
technology,  (11)  agricultural  engineering,  (12)  statistics,  and  (13) 
miscellaneous.  These  subjects  have  been  divided  and  subdivided  only 
so  far  as  seemed  necessary  to  facilitate  reference  to  the  individual 
entries  of  the  index.  Under  general  sciences  are  placed  only  such 
entries  as  relate  to  the  general  principles  of  the  various  sciences  which 
lie  at  the  foundation  of  experimental  investigations  in  agriculture. 
Under  statistics  are  included  the  entries  relating  to  the  organization, 
equipment,  and  general  operations  of  the  stations.  The  other  pri- 
mary divisions  provide  for  the  articles  relating  more  directly  to  the 
agricultural  and  economic  investigations.  The  plan  of  the  index 
permits  the  addition  of  reference  to  any  literature  relating  to  agricul- 
ture, and  also  affords  a  wide  opportunity  for  the  extension  of  the 
index  by  individual  students  for  their  own  special  purposes. 

Each  of  the  divisions,  as  a  rule,  contains  entries  for  all  the  im- 
portant articles  on  the  subject.  In  some  cases,  however,  an  article, 
especially  of  a  popular  nature,  may  deal  with  several  subjects  and  be 
indexed  only  under  the  most  important  phase  of  the  work.  As  an 
illustration  of  this  point,  an  article  dealing  with  the  use  of  fertilizers 
for  field  crops  on  certain  -oil-  may  appear  under  only  one  of  the 
headings — Fertilizers,  Field  Crop-,  or  Soil-.     This  has  been  necessary 

711 3.ja— Cir.  107— 11 


UNIVERSITY  OF  FLORIDA 

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in  order  to  keep  the  number  of  cards  within  reasonable  limits.  Where 
the  index,  however,  is  used  in  its  entirety,  as  planned,  cross  references 
lessen  the  difficulty  from  this  source.  The  divisions  and  subdivisions 
are  arranged  on  a  decimal  system  and  are  plainly  indicated  by  the 
use  of  division  cards  of  different  colors. 

The  index  is  printed  on  cards  2  by  5  inches  in  size.  Each  index 
card  contains  an  appropriate  title,  the  author  of  the  article,  a  reference 
to  the  publication  in  which  it  appeared  and  to  the  Experiment  Sta- 
tion Record  in  which  an  abstract  of  the  article  may  be  found,  and  a 
condensed  statement  of  its  contents.  At  the  upper  right-hand  corner 
of  the  card  is  a  number  indicating  under  what  heading  the  card 
should  be  placed  in  the  index.  The  order  in  which  the  cards  are 
printed  is  indicated  at  the  lower  left-hand  corner. 

One  copy  of  the  index  is  sent  without  charge  to  each  of  the  agri- 
cultural colleges  and  experiment  stations  and  to  several  of  the  state 
boards  and  commissions  of  agriculture. 

Besides  this  free  distribution,  the  Office  is  prepared,  under  authority 
of  the  law,  to  furnish  a  limited  number  of  complete  sets  of  the  index 
at  the  price  of  $2  per  thousand  cards.  For  the  colored  division  cards 
an  additional  charge  of  $1.25  is  made.  Sets  of  division  cards  and 
31,400  index  cards,  bringing  the  index  up,  approximately,  to  Novem- 
ber 1,  1910,  are  available,  and  one  of  these  sets  will  be  sent  to  any 
address  upon  receipt  of  $64.05.  Subscribers  for  the  complete  index 
are  informed  when  each  successive  lot  of  1,000  cards  is  ready  for  dis- 
tribution; while  subscribers  for  separate  divisions  are  notified  about 
once  a  year  as  to  the  number  of  cards  accumulated  since  the  last  con- 
signment.    Only  270  copies  of  the  index  are  printed. 

On  account  of  the  increasing  demand  for  separate  divisions  of  the 
index,  arrangements  have  been  made  for  reprinting  certain  divisions 
or  parts  of  divisions.  This  Office  is  therefore  prepared  to  furnish  a 
limited  number  of  divisions  of  the  index  at  a  price  oidy  sufficient  to 
cover  additional  cost  of  printing,  namely,  $3  per  thousand,  with  a 
charge  of  1  cent  each  for  colored  division  cards. 

A  key  to  the  index,  containing  the  system  of  classification,  is  sent 
on  application. 

Make  payments  in  advance  by  United  States  postal  order  in  favor 
of  A.  Zappone,  Disbursing  Officer,  and  forward  in  envelopes  ad- 
dressed to  the  Director  of  the  Office  of  Experiment  Stations. 

Respectfully  submitted.  A.  C.  True, 

Director. 

Approved. 

James  Wilson, 

Secretary  of  Agriculture. 

[Cir.  107] 

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